Arguments Against Feminism

I’ve never been one to back off from something I feel strongly about, and I suppose feminism is one of those things. Go figure, I feel I’m a human being as equal in intelligence, ability, and the right to do what I want just as much as any other human being who happens to have a penis. I’m not afraid to confront people for acting like sexist pigs, and I’m way past caring if that ruffles any feathers. After all, they don’t care if they ruffle mine by acting that way, do they? I rarely hold back, but I get the feeling that a lot of people do. One of the reasons I get that feeling is that I get a lot of email feedback about some of these issues. It comes in many forms – dignified support, gleeful egging on, and, most moving of all, quiet thanks for saying what few people will come out and say.

A recent example of this was the online discussion about the “cute girls out front” policy* at Outdoor Retailer and the events leading up to my general annoyance with seeing that kind of stuff from, and at, Outdoor Retailer. I got on Outdoor Retailer’s (the business) case about promoting pics of pretty girls and only pretty girls on its Facebook page, most annoyingly a picture of a booth girl clad in tight clothes (super original, I know). One of the pretty girls took umbrage and thought I was calling her stupid (the odious idea that “pretty” and “smart” are mutually exclusive is a whole other subject) and it sparked a bunch of comments from dudes calling ME stupid. One of them told me I was just jealous. Another of them said I was “ruining all the fun” for them (this was, by the way, Salomon rep who said that. Nice! Way to represent your brand, buddy) by objecting to using women as sex-sells props at professional trade shows. Another comment (might have been the same dude) fell back on the idea that “it’s better at OR than other shows” so I shouldn’t have a problem with it at OR. I got a bunch of emails from women, supporting my stance on that issue, but few were as willing to speak up online as the dudes were in asserting their right to leer. What gives?

It happens in person, too. Even after years of attending OR and seeing the frat-boy behavior steadily increasing both online and in person, focusing on the “free beer and hot women” ** available to the men of the industry (heavy sarcasm here), I was unprepared for OR Winter Market 2012. Thongs, ass, and spandex-clad “booth staff” in heavy attendance; a new development. I made a disbelieving face at the platform-heel-and micro-mini-wearing staff at one of those booths and was immediately pulled into a between-booths alley by a senior executive of a national outdoors organization. She had witnessed me throwing the stinkeye at the booth babe schtick and launched on her own splendid rant about how she was tired of it, too. Worst of all, she said, was the way such displays seemed to validate the inner (or are they like this all the time?) lech in male attendees. “You wouldn’t believe the stuff these guys were saying just now,” she told me. “They were walking behind me making sexual comments about every single woman they saw. Finally I just turned around and confronted them, and they seemed utterly shocked when they realized they weren’t at a Vegas nightclub. I’m so sick of this good old boy shit.”

A woman after my own heart. Yeah, sister! But why pull me into an alley to say it?

I suppose she doesn’t say anything in public because of her job. Few people like to make waves; waves can be costly. But isn’t that exactly the opposite of what should be happening? If you’ve got a position of influence, shouldn’t you be saying something publicly? Do we still live in a world where if even the boss lady doesn’t want to look at some chick’s butt crack at work, she’s got to keep it quiet or get fired?

Well, I’ve got no boss to throw me shade, so I’ll say what I want. To this day I get emails from people wishing I would make another Head Geargal post about some issue or another (got one yesterday as a matter of fact), and it all made me start wondering why few of these people will post their thoughts online or say them out loud. It can’t be my job and my job only! I need backup, people. It can’t just be that they are afraid for their jobs – many of these people don’t even work in the outdoor industry. It occurs to me that the nasty backlash (didn’t we cover this in the sixties?) from men could be what keeps them quiet. In this article about Bike Portland’s promotion of a “Bikini Bike Wash”(they have since changed the picture to be less sex oriented) one commenter opined that the “continued harassment” keeps complaints to a minimum, citing “round one: the pictures, round two: the comments” when referring to the gauntlet of bullying one must endure to read an article and then express an opinion that threatens to interfere with the “fun.”

Well, here is your handy guide to Piggy Behavior – the personal attacks you’ll inevitably get hit with when you speak up. It’s not you, it’s them, and they’re so threatened by you – just the fact that you exist, and you’re female, and you have an opinion and a voice – that they’ll try their hardest to verbally and emotionally smack you back down so their entire worldview of themselves as superior beings is not threatened. Here is a short reference list of the most common personal attacks these people will throw at you:

1. You must be fat and ugly and therefore jealous. This one is my favorite. These guys can’t come up with anything intelligent to fall back on, so they lash out in fear in an attempt to cash in on yours, and try to squash you by calling you ugly. Now, I know a lot of people have body image issues or whatever, but I don’t, and I know I’m not ugly. I’m not fat. I’m not jealous and I feel no need to tear anyone else down for looking good. I laugh and laugh when a dude tries this schtick on me. But what gets me about this stance is – what if I WERE ugly? What if I WERE fat? Would I be less human, with an opinion less valid? Because we all know that the dudes displaying this attitude double checked their body fat percentage, body hair/odor, hairstyle, and general appeal before clicking “send.” Right.

2. It’s better now than it was before, so shut up. I have been hearing this one since college, twenty years ago. A dude in one of my English classes flipped out at me for saying something feminist, snapping “Well what do you want? It’s better than before, do you want to just go back to the way it WAS?” His rancor surprised even the professor, though to this day I’m rankled that s/he (I can’t even remember, can you dig that?) didn’t smack that punk down. Anyway, so this is nothing new. Evidently the fact that we still have injustice in the world is just fine because it’s slightly better than the injustice we had a hundred years ago. I suspect this argument comes from the same type of person who will claim that it’s hard for white males to get jobs.

3.You’re judging her based on her appearance, so you’re part of the problem. This is a good one, too, because it’s probably the hardest to spot. It goes something like this:

You: Wow, I’d really prefer to look at these new sunglasses without some girl’s boobs in my face.
Them: Why do you assume she’s not a valued employee with brains and education? Just because she looks good? You’re the sexist one!
You: I didn’t say that, I just don’t like to see women turned into objects just to sell stuff, it’s degrading to me.
Them: You’re just jealous! You wish you looked like that!

Note the beautiful full-circle nature? They segue right back into argument #1. Listen up, Piggies, I didn’t say anything about said boob-bearer being dumb, useless, or uneducated. YOU did. Your brain tells you that cute girl cannot equal smart girl, so you assume that any objection to all that T & A must mean that the objector has the same disconnect. This, kids, is the very basis of objectification.

4. It’s her choice, you want people to have choices, don’t you? Insidiously clever! Wearing a bikini to sell camp stoves is indeed just as valid a lifestyle choice as any other. You’ll never hear otherwise from me. However, there’s a reason that not every office building has a strip club in the lunch room. Some things don’t mix. Trying to mix them creates what the law calls a “hostile environment,” preventing ordinary workers from just doing their jobs. If you want to take this into a stupid place and start ranting about how that’s why you won’t hire gay people or people with tattoos or Jewish people or Italians and that it’s their lifestyle choices you don’t agree with so you should be able to fire all of them, you may want to acquaint yourself with Federal law, which bars you from discriminating against certain groups of people. “Girls in thong underwear” are not on the list. This is the way it is. Take it up with SCOTUS. Or go ahead and fire all the Jews, and someone might take it up for you.
5. You “could actually be cute if you’d just [wear more makeup] [dress like her] [not be so angry] [not hate men so much][insert lame line here].” When all else fails for them, here it is. The bottom line. They honestly can’t make the connection that you’re a person. They can’t make sense of you having a brain and using it to think for yourself, so they hope like hell you’ll just make out with them so they can win at SOMETHING. They hope you’re desperately lonely and will be flattered by their inane leering, and that they can stop trying to have a conversation with you (because they’re clearly losing). They really think that all you’re looking for is a good dose of male attention and you’ll forget all that bothersome intelligence. Good luck with that, Piggies.

So go forth and express your opinion, secure in knowing that when anyone uses any of the above tactics to shame and bully you into shutting up, it’s just Piggy Behavior and can readily be ignored for the schoolyard-level idiocy that it is. If you need some backup, drop me a line. One thing I don’t think we have yet is My Bodyguard remade with girls in the main roles (wait, wasn’t that Heathers? No, not quite…), so maybe we can get that done here pretty soon.

And, outdoor industry – grow the fuck up. I realize it’s easy to make more money if you can populate your office with people who will work for minimum wage because twice a year they get to go to parties for “work,” but trust me, it’s not getting any work done. If you’ve got a girl in the front of your booth trying to sell your product to men using her boobs, I’m just going to walk on by, appointment or no. Bike industry – you better just torch Interbike and start over; you’re disgusting. Moto industry: you’re next. Someone make a product that doesn’t need some chick’s ass in front of it for it to sell. Please.

*not really a policy(I hope). It’s just something someone said in response to a picture of a pretty girl in tight clothes in an OR booth, promoted on OR’s own Facebook page.

** This is a quote from the highly popular blog of a very, very large online retailer. Yes, someone got paid a decent salary (I know what it is as a matter of fact) to write this. I wrote to the company to express that I thought such stuff was unprofessional, and ended up in a long discussion with the content manager about how frustrated he was with the industry and that type of behavior. He told me some very personal stuff that really went a long way in shaping my opinions about how the industry addresses things like gender equality, orientation, race, and the like. I can speak most genuinely about women’s issues, because I experience them firsthand, but there is a lot of buried resentment out there regarding other societal groups as well. That particular man, though frustrated with the industry, was gratified to know he wasn’t alone in his annoyance with the sophomoric behavior. Hopefully he’s found a way to speak up. Hopefully we all can.

30 comments on “Arguments Against Feminism”

I think a huge part of the problem is that men like to think sexism is “solved” or “doesn’t exist any more” not letting these offenses slide is a hugely important piece of tackling the (still existent) problem.

Wow…well said; so- who exactly do the guys out there pull by the neck and position in front of those retail shops? U guys shd kam up with a novel alternative for businesses to continue thriving in a competitive market without using ‘naked’ girls if it hurts u so much.

Be4 then, jst let the girls make a living- your making yours, and u certainly ain’t going to employ ol of ’em- right?

I’m really glad you’ve written this. I’m going to fall out of the closet and back you up. I’m not an outdoor professional, but rather the target audience that the OI sells to. And I’m offended. I have stood up to be counted before, and been shouted down by a murder of men.
As evidence I link to this:https://www.facebook.com/77Zero/posts/403585303010523
When I dared point out that, as a woman, I was turned off by the fact that Hyperlite Mountain Gear has only male ambassadors, I was told I could not be serious. And when I explain that, yes, I was, in fact serious, because the impact of ultra-light gear is even more positive on women (or men of smaller stature) than it is on men, simply because of our lower average weight, and hence the larger percentage of our weight that gear represents, I was told that I was “making certain assumptions which are difficult to disentangle”. But I felt that it was disrespectful to the original poster to continue having this conversation on his FB page, since it was obviously making him uncomfortable, so I backed off. So, there, this is how we self-police and shut up. We point out the inherent problem, we’re told to shut up, we persist, then somebody goes: this is not the place, then we shut up. Where IS the place?!

Wow. That conversation is THE VERY DEFINITION of mansplaining. “Difficult to disentangle,” really? If he can’t understand what you’re saying, he’s a moron! It’s not difficult to understand what you are saying. He’s just being an asshole, full stop. “How dare the little woman speak up in a manner that could be interpreted as critical – I’ll try to use some big words, hopefully that will work.” Welp, he’s ensured that I’ll never consider buying one of their products. Especially considering that they still only have male ambassadors, but mostly because they so purposefully decided to act obtuse and confused by your statement, which was a pretty straightforward question. That’s fine – there are lots of good companies out there who make great stuff for women AND are respectful.

Sometimes I wonder if companies like that don’t have female ambassadors because they think that having women present would interfere with their image of themselves as amazing wilderness explorers; something they can’t imagine women doing. It’s like a throwback to the Shackleton era or something.

I happened across this post via Twitter. I’m not one of “those” men who is going to use any of those excuses or call names. I don’t care for the overt sexualization either, but I must admit that as a guy, I do enjoy the view, especially when its toned down and leaves something to the imagination.

As for women who don’t like companies using sexuality to sell their products… well, that’s capitalism. You can have an effect on this by doing exactly what the writer is doing — making her feelings known about it to the Powers that Be. If enough people complain, they will listen. It’s all about sales. So if Company X is going overboard with the sexuality, and realize they could sell MORE products to women if they toned down their marketing toward males, then they will do that.

BUT.. being offended by it isn’t going to accomplish anything except make you angry and people around you miserable. At the very least, you should feel good for the women who are in those positions. Through either a lot of work, or perhaps genetic luck, they look good and they’re making a living doing so. The same applies to Super Models or anybody else who is, “professionally good-looking,” to use a term from Zoolander.

If you’re not one of those women, then you have options… one is to not care, and live your life and be happy, regardless of what others think. Or, you can do something about it.

The very same thing applies to men. I’m no “looker” by any means. I also don’t much care about muscular, “super hot” guys (whatever those are — being a straight guy, I’m unable to tell) don’t bother me. If they want to use their looks, or muscles or whatever to their advantage, all power to them. Me, I’m NOT working on becoming better looking. I don’t care. I’m content with my appearance. Anonymity has its advantages.

Something else you can have an affect on, and I’d love it if you did, is to try to get the “typical male” to stop acting like such dweebs towards and around women. Guys can’t really have this effect on each other without being called their own series of names (homos for one). But it’s these typical males that this marketing is directed towards. So between going after the businesses utilizing this marketing, and some gentle social re-education, maybe guys will start acting more like gentlemen and less like pigs. And then maybe some of the women who seem like their number one priority in life is to castrate as many guys as possible, will relax a bit.

But the moral of this is… don’t be so thin-skinned, and if you see or experience something you don’t like, write letters and make phone calls to effect change. Don’t be freaking out about returning to the “old ways” when women were “barefoot and pregnant” or some crap like that. The world has come a long way since then and it’s not going back to it, anymore than abortion is suddenly going to be banned if a Conservative becomes president. Isn’t gonna happen.

I feel that this comment was really well intended and I appreciate you stopping by – really. However…it’s pretty much a classic example of everything I just wrote about.

“BUT.. being offended by it isn’t going to accomplish anything except make you angry and people around you miserable. At the very least, you should feel good for the women who are in those positions. Through either a lot of work, or perhaps genetic luck, they look good and they’re making a living doing so. The same applies to Super Models or anybody else who is, “professionally good-looking,” to use a term from Zoolander…..muscular, “super hot” guys (whatever those are — being a straight guy, I’m unable to tell) don’t bother me. If they want to use their looks, or muscles or whatever to their advantage, all power to them. Me, I’m NOT working on becoming better looking. I don’t care. I’m content with my appearance.”

This is dangerously close to method #1 and #4 combined…

OF COURSE we should be openly offended if we are offended. We have every right to our opinions and to our voices. These are things women have worked for our entire lives.

No, I don’t “feel good” for a woman who props herself up in a bikini at a trade show for days, creating a hostile environment for the women trying to attend said show for work. I’m not jealous of her nor do I find any of those women more attractive than any other kind of woman (little known fact – take off the makeup, pushup bra, fake nails, platform heels, and tight clothes, and you can’t tell any of us apart. Men really don’t get that). I feel a little sad for her that she feels that her boobs are her best option for making a living, and a meager one at that; I can’t imagine booth babe-hood paying really well. I feel annoyed at her for shoving her ass in my face while I’m trying to do my job. “Good for you – work that ass, sister!” just does not cross my mind when I’m operating a business and working hard on being taken seriously.

Let’s say this one more time: Women’s objection to sex-sells marketing has NOTHING to do with jealousy or discontent with our own appearance. NOTHING. Not. One. Thing.

“Something else you can have an affect on, and I’d love it if you did, is to try to get the “typical male” to stop acting like such dweebs towards and around women”

Sorry. I’m not a babysitter or an elementary school teacher. Men who act like this are their own creation; it’s not my responsibility to coach them or “socially re-educate” them. I’m sure they can pay to take a seminar from someone willing to hold their hands through the frightening new world of social equality, but that’s not my lot in life and thank dog for that. Maybe if their friends and peers *ahem* would be brave enough to tell them they’re acting like troglodytes, things might change. They’re obviously getting some sort of positive reinforcement from their peers regarding their behavior. You seriously have a friend who would call you a “homo” for telling them to not act like a sexist pig? YOU re-educate that dumbass, or get better friends. I’ve no desire to be around anyone like that EVER.

“don’t be so thin-skinned”

If I may borrow a phrase from my friend Peter, “you get todays ‘sigh.'” Right. Not wanting my workplace to resemble a strip club is being “thin-skinned.” Not being willing to be talked down to is being “thin-skinned.” Okay. I appreciate your intentions in weighing in, but that’s just a classic example of talking down to a woman for standing up for her rights.

Dude has a point- u jst have to accept the reality. Ur offended if a girl wears bikini to sell stuff for days. The said gal isn’t offended and actually loves the job; what’s ur problem? I mean, u r both females and shd b offended but she is not.
Here’s another suggestion; how about u start by educating the girls about the sanctity of their bodies? From those in local bars to those who have made millions on international catwalk- they are all doing the same thing- looks 2me lyk a pretty too big a thing to stop without getting the actors to your side.

@RobG
Are you kidding? “That’s capitalism”?! Sexist bullshit is the opposite of capitalism, since it drives away potential women customers by objectifying them and dismissing them.

Also (and Jill, I apologize if you hit this already), I cannot believe how what a condescending jerk you sound like, telling any woman, who is justifiably outraged by this disrespect from the outdoor industry, that she shouldn’t be “thin-skinned.” I’m a man; I’m outraged. A better question is, why aren’t you? Why does anyone think that it’s ok to treat women as no more than a collection of body parts? (Also, apparently men are just ball sacks with eyes-I’m a little insulted by that, but not nearly as much as the rest of it.)

And I’m glad you mention abortion, actually: All this is a continuum. Seems like men don’t respect or trust women, and so they objectify them on one side, and attack their rights (or women themselves) at the other end. A world without sexist bullshit at trade shows is probably one where women don’t have to worry about reproductive rights, and (dare to dream) don’t have to worry about being sexually assaulted by friends, acquaintances, and random strangers.

Jill – as always, you’re awesome for bringing this up. It’s a scandal how the outdoor & bike industries talk out about “supporting women” and then treat potential customers (as well as employees) like garbage.

The abortion thing. Rob could be right – but man, do we have to be afraid that the next election will have dire repercussions for our right to operate our own bodies as we please – every single time there’s an election? It’s really come to that. Men just don’t have to have their very person violated by laws, they don’t have to be forced into medical procedures they don’t want – maybe most men really, really just have no concept of what it’s like to be chilled to the bone by a political speech. I mean, personally. No man has ever had a politician stand up and assure the country that s/he is committed to forcing said man to do what he doesn’t want to do with his own body. Or cheering because they just passed a law forcing said man to let a doctor perform an unnecessary, punitive ritual as punishment for a personal decision. Dang.

Similarly, a man just doesn’t get what it’s like to not be free to travel. “Respect the local customs” gets buzzed around but it’s not MEN who have to cover their heads and shoulders and ankles and make sure their very being isn’t visible in certain countries. Men just do not know what it’s like to feel constantly threatened. To bring that threatening vibe into a professional environment is inexcuseable. Walking the aisles of OR with two douchebags running their mouths as they walk behind is an experience no woman should have to endure. A “world without sexist bullshit…” paradise indeed.

Thanks for chiming in. And like Jill correctly observed down thread, I’m pretty sure you inadvertently stepped in some shit here.

I’m going to give you the benefit of the doubt and chalk this up to a lack of education on the topic. I know I’ve totally been there when it comes to issues of racism. (Shit, it wasn’t long ago that I was only a half-hearted feminist on topics like these but then an issue of very overt sexism jumped up and made me more aware of the smaller ones.)

An environment where women–ANY WOMEN, genetically blessed or otherwise–are valued not for their knowledge about a product, idea, process, topic, etc. but for their ability to attract men to a product based on their looks (as a man, I’d be sorta offended that my business/product choices for outdoors gear would be influenced by physicality) is sexually hostile. Period. End of story. Try noticing for a month or so how differently women are treated in many, if not all situations. Just notice. And ponder. Think about how women are being told how to present their bodies in public (a lot of what you said about dress and looks is dangerously close to using the same logic to blame rape victims because of how they were dressed), how their told how to make reproductive decisions, to work or not to work when they have children, etc. etc. Things are different but hopefully you can start to notice and spread the word to others, cool?

***And just because I can’t leave this alone (it’s one of my big pet peeves), please please watch the homophobic tone in your words. I’m not entirely sure that you’re meaning to be that way but “homos” is an insult that should be jettisoned from all usage everywhere, one that all people, men or women, straight or gay, should call people out on. Even if you’re straight Rob, you can judge a man’s looks–I swear, we won’t all assume you’re gay. It’s okay. :-)***

Once I was at a press trip for a bike industry brand. I was the only woman there. The hotshot young guns from some big publications actually thought I was the cocktail waitress for the meet & greet. They kept asking me for drinks. Took them a while to clue in even though I’d point at the bar and say “I got mine over there.”

Also – I wrote this in my reply to Sasha (below), but it’s pretty amazing to me that men are so afraid of what their “friends” think. I thought they were supposed to be the tough ones (ha) but in fact they live in fear of their buddies calling them a pussy or a homo. And they’ll still remain friends with someone who calls them those names. Interesting.

To be fair, the person whose FB page I posted that comment on is not affiliated with Hyperlite Mountain Gear, and the company may not even be aware I made that posting. But if it were me hawking their gear, I would have invited the company to the conversation, not tried to shut it down.
Additionally, the fact that I am SPECULATING as to the reason for their lack of female ambassadors in no way detracts from my point. Also note that I went to great pains to come up with some plausible explanation for the lack of female ambassadors that would make HMG not look entirely bad: “So is it that the thought did not occur to them? Is it that they looked and didn’t find worthy ambassadors? Is it that they don’t feel the need to market to women, or they feel that women won’t notice the absence of female ambassadors? All interesting possibilities.”
In the end, as a lightweight chick, I want these companies to succeed at making ultra-light gear, because it empowers me in my outdoor pursuits. It empowers me possibly MORE than it empowers their male ambassadors and audience.

HMG gave him (Andrew Badenoch aka 77Zero) some free stuff, so they’re tying themselves to that in some at least small and inadvertent way. His response was the tip of the iceberg I’m afraid: http://evolvify.com/

HMG did sponsor a female thru-hiker on the AT this year, who wrote some good blog posts for them.

You know, that’s a good point. Companies spray out all this gear to “sponsor” all kinds of trips without giving much of a thought to how that person is representing their gear. This might be a lesson learned for that company. Let’s hope so anyway.

Sigh. This post was ACTUALLY meant as a “hey, don’t lean on me to do it if you don’t like it – speak up” kind of thing, but I’m already afraid it’s devolving into a “Write more about this, Jill” rah-rah session instead. Ah well! I still hope someone will remember this post when they get hit with one of those behaviors.

I would imagine that every woman who reads this will hear your “voice” in their head the next time that something bothers them. They may or may not speak up right then and there, but each time it happens and they keep hearing your voice– “Don’t go in the back alley, don’t whisper!” –someday they will speak out. Or, at least interrogate themselves pretty hard as to why not.

It is pretty crazy how quickly you can post something like this and someone jumps in to be aggressive and tell you how it is. Seriously, can’t they just THINK about it for a bit. Even if they think it’s probably BS, why not just think, “What if she’s right? What would that mean? Even if she is only a tiny bit “right”, is even that okay?”.

There are a lot of photos out there that have gorgeous (IMO) women doing stuff, looking great, and selling product. Patagonia catalog comes to mind–guys probably (maybe? I have no idea) think the women are hot, but the photo is usually stunning, and the woman looking great is more of a byproduct of the place/action/photo/gear/kicking ass than anything else. Women usually look great when they are happy and focused and doing something they love (especially in gorgeous places, and in well designed clothes!), and some photographers can capture it. I will buy that product. The same woman in the same gear, not doing anything, not in a beautiful place will not capture my attention the same way.

Some people in this world think “Hot women = hot women” and then the rest of us think “smart women = hot women” “athletic women = hot women” “creative women = hot women” “happy women = hot women” etc… or we don’t even really think in terms of “hot women”! I can’t tell you how many women I’ve admired skiing, with their gear, helmets, goggles, and when they pull off their goggles and helmet they turn out to be gorgeous. EVERY TIME. Because they are happy and skiing, and a blissful energetic smiling woman who just had some killer turns is ALWAYS GORGEOUS.

Thanks Dani. I really hope so! And yeah – I’m pretty used to dudes coming in to mansplain this whole deal to me. 😉 It truly can be amazing sometimes how indoctrinated they are into that way of thinking.

I like the Patagonia catalogs because much of the time when you see a picture of a woman, she’s DOING SOMETHING and in the winter catalog, it’s usually something in bad weather so you can’t even see her face or body. Her looks are irrelevant; she’s good at what she does. Similarly, I love seeing mainstream Helly/Hansen ads with women ski patrollers and other women badasses. They put those ads in not just women’s publications, but in mainstream magazines. The women don’t just represent the women’s line – they represent the brand. It’s awesome.

I am speechless at the screenshot at the top of this post. It wasn’t there when I first read this yesterday (or maybe it didn’t show up). WTF. I mean, really? Someone writes a thoughtful, honest post and gets attacked. Typical, very typical. Why can’t we all be adults, be civil in our discourse and not belittle someone becuase their views are different than ours. I’ve noticed that seems to happen a lot this political season. I don’t understand it. It makes me want to break things.

Anyway, I’m one of those people who email Jill and say, is it me or does this bother you too? One of the things that really annoyed me lately is a calendar of female cyclists that is being used as a fundraiser. I thought, heck, this is cool, I’ll click on over and, whoa, wait a sec, this is obviously NOT targeted to me, but to men. Basically, it was a calendar of these strong women portrayed as Playboy bike bunnies. Don’t get me wrong, I think the female form is beautiful and anyone that knows me, knows that I’m the first person to pay a compliment to someone or have “girl crushes” on women I consider “hot” (for the record, though I really shouldn’t have to state it, I’m a straight married female). What is truly annoying is that when male athletes are asked to participate in a calendar or whatever, they are not portrayed as nearly naked men draped strategically over their bikes. Nope. They are usually action photos of them in their gear, riding hard and getting sweaty and dirty. Why is that?

I have to ask the guys that comment negatively, why do you feel the need to attack someone for pointing out the obvious? I don’t participate in these industry events, but I would have to say that given the way they are headed, if I were in the industry, I’d be saying and thinking the same things as Jill and others who’ve written about this. Are these nearly naked girls, athletic or not, really necessary? What I’d like to propose is some equal play. How about these companies hire some hot young men, dress them up in speedos and G strings and have them hang out at the booths with the hot young babes in bikinis? How about some twigs and berries hanging out with the boobs? I would REALLY love to see this happen and see the reaction. Because let’s be honest here folks, the ONLY reason those girls are there is as eye candy to lure guys in. The gear alone is apparently not good enough to do this on it’s own. Apparently, men are super gullible too. Oh, a hot chick, man this gear MUST be the bomb cause this hot chick is here promoting it. Really?

What I’d like to see is these “athletic” women wear either their kit if it’s cycling or clothing more appropriate to their sport (so unless it’s beach volleyball or the swimming portion of a triathlon, bikinis will not be represented).

Unfortunately, sex sells and we have to many men out there who are clueless and oblivious and ready to jump on the you’re-just-jealous-because-you-obviously-must-be-ugly-fat-jealous-clueless-uptight-thin-skinned-fill-in-blank-here. There isn’t an easy solution, but if we can get some constructive dialogue going and have more women speak up about this practice, maybe, just maybe it will get people – men and women – to stop and think, really think about what they are doing.

Thanks for writing a comment, Sasha! Just to be clear – that screen shot was from a post about booth girls, not this one. I did add it yesterday but just to illustrate what I was talking about. However there’s no mistaking the hostility and contempt, is there? And those comments are from people who represent brands.

I am really disappointed in female athletes for presenting themselves like strippers or Playboy models. Ruins the hard work of women making a living with their actual talents. I really don’t think there’s a justifiable reason to use models at trade shows. We KNOW it’s a base layer, it’s supposed to be tight, we get it. We don’t need to see it on anyone, male or female.

The only male eye candy I’ve seen at trade shows is the Icebreaker sheep-head thing. I just feel kinda bad for that guy. It makes me want to avert my eyes. I do like your suggestion about thong-clad dudes all over the place because then guys would know what it’s like to try to have a business meeting with some dude’s ass and crotch hanging over his shoulder. Maybe it does have to come to that.

Also, don’t be too discouraged – there are a lot of men who do feel this way. Many men I know were revolted at the juvenile behavior of one brand at ISSW (post on THAT coming next) which was nice to hear. It’s mostly men, though, that need to learn to speak up to their friends when they act stupid and sexist. Maybe that’s the REAL question. Why are men so afraid of each other? Why is Rob more worried about his “friends” calling him a “homo” than he is about acting like a decent person (and, for that matter, why more worried about what his friends think than about offending/harassing a woman)? What’s wrong with dudes that THEY are so afraid to speak up?

To answer your (rhetorical) question, and be a bit more substantive than I was last night: men worry about such things because gender the first and most significant filter for how we understand the world. Everything else (yes, everything) about someone’s identity is built around that. It’s only fairly recently (post 2nd wave feminism, perhaps) that “woman” has begun to mean much more than “not-male”. Unfortunately most of the language is still owned by maleness, so rebuilding the world such that gender equity is even thinkable will continue to be a long, steep road.

That what makes something like the Cyclopassion calenders so problematic. I’m not comfortable with that kind of objectification, especially because achieving a comparable level of objectification of male bodies is just not possible. On the other hand I know someone who will be in it next year, respect her, and am not comfortable judging her actions for her, either.

I was really disappointed that no one even bit on my question about what constitutes a “legit outdoors person.” I expect there’s some sort of math equation where your hotness (which obviously correlates inversely with ability, mental and physical) is balanced against the frequency and relative quality of your outdoors activities. And on the legitimacy continuum, where does fly-fishing compare with ski touring and how does four-wheeling stack up against horseback riding?

Perhaps I’m just passive agressive rather than directly confrontational like you are 🙂

You know, that silence happened so abruptly that I have to wonder if those companies hastily reined in their reps and shut them up. Usually dudes like that rant on for a while; though in all fairness the majority of their histrionics were on the Outdoor Retailer page itself, which I decided not to screencap because I have no idea if you can honorably screencap and post a picture of someone else’s page (now that i wrote it out, i think that sure, you can do that, it’s public…).

But yeah, legit outdoors person…in that case they seemed to be saying that “cute girl employed by outdoors industry company” = legit outdoors person. Or? I think that wins the prize for least apropos comment on the entire escapade. Let’s say booth babe IS a legit outdoors person (whatever that is). That doesn’t make using her as a booth babe any less offensive. In this particular case, if said girl was not being used as booth babe (which they say she was not…okay..) then Outdoor Retailer sure took some pains to make it LOOK like she was. “Cute girls out front!” *punch*

There is only one place to live in- our world. Lets contribute to make
it livable. This article explores about the serious issue of morality,
and how it is affecting our planet.
THE TSUNAMI OF IMMORALITY

There used to be a time when people wrapped themselves up with leaves
and branches, and were only partly covered. We refer that age today
with the word “Uncivilized”, and have self-proclaimed to be some sort
of “Civilized” people living in the new century. However, the
fundamental meaning of “Civilization” is in no way coherent with what
we are doing now. Is it Civilization taking a U-turn, or are we
heading towards the wrong direction?

Today we see some girls spending so much of their valuable time and
energy (that was supposed to be used for personal development) in
aligning themselves to so-called attributes of beauty, that it seems
as if they have bondage to look attractive for somebody else, or they
are so unsafe and inappropriate with what they are. They are trying to
fit themselves to an unofficial Body Code, and eat and think little
for the sake of others. An unexpressed fear of whether they will be
neglected by their partner at home, or undermined by colleagues and
bosses at work exists: such an intense feeling of guilt to carry on
and such a miserable life to live with. Truly speaking this is like
operating mind with “Demo” version and being a “Dummy” instead of
thinking rationally and being a real entity.

Heartbreaking is the view they hold of themselves. There may be three
basic reasons why a girl would try to present herself in a way
uncomfortable to herself and the society – the first being the desire
to beg attraction. What would happen if, on a girl’s way to college
she is not noticed by anybody on the street- would it be a
catastrophe? Would she not get a suitable partner for her life and
would be redundant? Such a stupid logic it is. We have seen when an
item is displayed outside the store – when it is on sale on discount,
i.e. it is cheaper- this is how the society gets the message, and this
is how the concept works- unfortunately there is no second opinion of
the sub-conscious mind of the receiver. This obviously puts her down.
How can one party that is making every effort to be judged by the
other make an equitable deal with the other? The second disguise for
this shameful act is the false notion to be confident, or comfortable
in a way- and an absolute lie. Human brain is so advanced that it has
in-built in itself every virtue, ethic and moral code of conduct- the
only difference being in their degree with respect to the culture and
environment one lives in. (Leave aside the mindset of criminals – a
manifestation of disorder in mental software- or a hacking-of-mind by
evil interests). However modern or open-minded we declare ourselves to
be, our soul knows whether we are doing right or wrong- there is a
feeling of uneasiness in some corner of our heart- ask yours to be
sure.

The third and the most heinous reasons of all is money. They get paid
for it- in the name of
Fashion/Art/Photography/Cinema/Marketing/Advertisement or any such
envelope for this crime. Can we judge anything that is done for money
to be a profession? Certainly not. Why should a model selling
toothbrush appear exposed? Why does a Heroine need to bath in movie
when it has no connection to the story plot? Are we really getting
crazy? What is it communicating to the general audience, and why to
surprise if a child of this new century grows learning to dishonor
women, this is what the mass media preach him.

And the impact- disastrous. What had originated to make one sex
superior than the other as if turned it inferior- the weapon has
backfired. Do not blend the success women have achieved in different
fronts of society by virtue of good education and talent with idiot
glamour-it has helped sink the ship in every instance. What it has
done is scrapped whatever good there was in beauty and deteriorated it
into vulgarity. It is like a spear pointing both sides; and has eroded
the status of women and degraded the society at the same time. Now
wearing inappropriate dress for women is not an option- it has been
mandatory for her. You know men never wear Tapered T-shirts on
functions: they are ashamed to do so- they still like to look
dignified. Have you ever seen a man wearing skirts on parties? He is
embarrassed to look like a woman. Woman, on the other hand, feel proud
to wear men’s dress, and to look and behave like him. This is nothing
but sheer slavery state of mind, and is a serious issue. What all the
evidences conclude is that she is living in a bipolar frame of mind-
physically she is trying to prove that she is female by exhibiting
feminine features and mentally she is trying to avoid all her feminine
characteristics, i.e. getting rid of feminity. She no longer seems to
be proud to be a female by heart. Somebody has injected the venomous
idea into her mind – that female are weaker, and it is the greatest
lie in the history of mankind.

Power and Strength are two different qualities. Being Strong doesn’t
mean being Powerful. An axe is stronger than gun but gun is more
powerful than axe- same is the case with man and woman. Nature has
given more strength to men and more power to women, and both
characters have significance of their own, don’t mess them up. It’s
not wise to make Messy the opening batsman of Cricket team and give
Michael Clarke the responsibility of Goalkeeper, and complain they
didn’t play well.

Women in this new age need the courage to fight and defeat everything
that comes in their way of a respectful life, which they naturally
deserve- it is a fundamental truth in all living species. That does
not mean they have to be at home all day long obeying her male
relative’s order. It is about having the option – how to lead a happy
feminine life, what to wear what keeps her dignity and doesn’t let
being mere showpiece of sinful eyes. She needs to take the decision,
and the decision needs to be in her favor- it’s not good to live for
others.

We talk of Tuberculosis, and discuss how we can find a way to
confront its hazard. That does not mean everybody of us have TB. Not
all women are prey to the behavioral ambush mentioned above, but it is
definitely communicable, and holds the threat to be an epidemic. Women
are to lead the bright journey to a moral world, because some empty
female minds are dragging the civilization to indecent chaos, and
inviting the Tsunami of immorality.

*************************************************************************************
IF YOU DISLIKE IT, DELETE, ELSE SHARE IT